PROTO-ARCHITECTURE

This post is part of a coalition of architects posting on a single topic, each interpreting it in their own way, known as Architalks. This month the topic is your “my three favorite words”

The Big Idea.

Three words I use, probably more than any other in my work.  Architecture is complicated.  It is so complicated that it can take many, many people to make it a reality, with a diverse web of scheduling, overlapping responsibilities, stacked phases, and hand offs from one team to another, and all the interdependent coordination that entails.  What is the one thing that keeps everything on track? Read the rest of this entry →

This post is part of a coalition of architects posting on a single topic, each interpreting it in their own way, known as Architalks. This month the topic is your “favorite place”

What is my favorite place?  Easy…my own mind.

Now, I know that sounds egotistical, indulgent, possibly narcissistic, and quite probably what you’d expect from a film noir archetypal mad scientist, but it’s true. Read the rest of this entry →

Liberal Arts colleges are struggling.   There are several articles that have been written on the demise of the liberal arts colleges and why students are chosing more targeted career driven curriculum.  It is a symptom of, what believe, to be a crisis in higher education in which college is being viewed less and less like “higher education” and rather more like a vocational training for higher paying jobs. Read the rest of this entry →

Architecture in the real world…is the only ‘architecture’.

Period.

With the title of this entry a reader might make the assumption that I’d write on the nuts and bolts aspects of the profession, what an office is like, how the process really works, and maybe even a litany of advice for the emerging professional.  It’s not.  Architecture in the real world, professionally speaking, is more like any other office experience than not.  Now on to something more fun, and probably more controversial.  Strap in.

If it ain’t built, it ain’t architecture.

Read the rest of this entry →

I was at the Siggraph conference in August and Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) was all the rage.  While Google has decided to stop making their Google Glass, they are in the minority (although I think we haven’t heard the last on this from the gentle giant) as manufacturers all over are jumping on the bandwagon from the highly publicized Facebook purchase of the Oculus Rift goggles, to the very recent announcement of the Microsoft’s Hololens. Read the rest of this entry →

Architects and designers are peculiar.  It’s true.  We have a penchant for really odd things, we collect too many books, we’re fascinated by writing utensils, we laugh internally at irrepressible design tropes nobody else gets.  It’s in our fabric.  This list caters to those whims, so the friends and spouses of those afflicted can have a chance at satisfying it. Read the rest of this entry →

A good friend of mine, Bob runs a little blog that focuses on what it’s like to be an architect.  In a recent post he asked various architects to answer the same questions he is most asked in order to provide multiple glimpses into the profession.  Here’s my offering.

Read the rest of this entry →

Bethesda Row

As an architect and urban planner, my focus is always, first and foremost, on creating spaces for people.  That focus is filtered though a myriad of lenses, economics, client direction, etc., but the goal is always the same.  As most are aware, the U.S. experienced an explosion of growth after the second world war, and with the automobile as an affordable mode of transit, the nation’s urban structure burgeoned into what we now call the suburbs.  Zoning models followed this, regulating land use in a way that abandoned traditional walkable communities in favor of automobile-centric circulation.  In the last few decades, however, there has been a growing movement of communities embracing Form Based Codes.  Unlike traditional zoning  “Form Based-Codes (FBCs) seek to restore time tested forms of urbanism.  They give unity, efficient organization, social vitality, and walkability to our cities, towns and neighborhoods.” (via the Form-Based Codes Institute) Read the rest of this entry →

Dear Internet, we’re sick of complaining about the NSA. We want new laws that curtail online surveillance. Today we fight back.

Since the first revelations last summer, hundreds of thousands of Internet users have come together online and offline to protest the NSA’s unconstitutional surveillance programs. These programs attack our basic rights to connect and communicate in private, and strike at the foundations of democracy itself. Only a broad movement of activists, organizations and companies can convince Washington to restore these rights. Read the rest of this entry →

Ok, Black Friday has come and gone, you’ve scoured all the gift lists for your design minded friends and family, but there’s just nothing that sounds right, and the clock is ticking.  Well, I’m here to help!  Architects, artists, rejoice! That’s right, for the first (and hopefully not last) time I present the The Most Impressively Astounding Last Minute Designer’s Shopping Guide!* Read the rest of this entry →